Lyr/Tune Add: The Weaver Is Handsome

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: The Weaver is Handsome
From: masato sakurai
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 12:17 PM

Two versions are in Emelyn Elizabeth Gardner and Geraldine Jencks Chickering, Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan (1939; rpt. Folklore Associates, 1967, p. 173). Version B, which has four stanzas, is the one; the note says: "Sung in 1935 by Mr. Charles Bunting, Alger, who learned the song from his mother, of English descent, in Livingston County, Michigan, when he was a small boy."

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: THE WEAVER IS HANDSOME
From: masato sakurai
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 12:12 PM

X:1
T:The Weaver Is Handsome
M:3/8
L:1/8
B: E.M. Gardner & G.J. Chickering, Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan (1939; 1967, p. 173)
K:A
A|A A A|A2 A/ F/|E A F|E2 B/ B/|
w:I am a young gilr, and my for-tune is sad; I've a
B B B|c/ d/ e3/2 c/|A d c|B2 B|
w:long time been court-ed by a rov-ing young lad. He
B B B|c/ e3/2 c/ B/|A B c|E2 (C/E/)|
w:court-ed me high-ly both by night and by day, And_
A c B|c B3/2 A/|A A F|E2|]
w:now for to leave me he's go-ing a-way.
W:
W:I am a young girl, and my fortune is sad;
W:I've a long time been courted by a roving young lad.
W:He courted me highly both by night and by day,
W:And now for to leave me he's going away.
W:
W:Some say I'll go crazy, more say I'll go mad
W:For the sake of the weaver, that beautiful lad.
W:For he's all of my life and he's all of my joy;
W:If I don't get the weaver, my life I'll destroy.
W:
W:I'll cut off my hair and I'll dress in men's clothes;
W:And I'll follow the weaver wherever he goes,
W:For the weaver is handsome, the weaver is tall,
W:And I love the weaver the best of them all.
W:
W:Her father came to her one day in great haste
W:Saying, "Follow the weaver your friends to disgrace.
W:It's go and get married, say nothing me,
W:And when you are married, see how kind I'll be."

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: The Weaver is Handsome
From: masato sakurai
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 08:12 PM

I have Gardner and Chickering's book. As I'm in office now, I'll post their version later when I go home.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: The Weaver is Handsome
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 06:38 PM

My fault; sorry about that. I seem to have left an empty line in the URL somehow.

The lady and weaver

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: The Weaver is Handsome
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 06:27 PM

The second link is broken, though, and I don't get anything on a search with that title.

~ B in T

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: The Weaver is Handsome
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 06:21 PM

Thanks, Malcolm.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: The Weaver is Handsome
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 04:12 PM

The Roud Folk Song Index lists it at number 601 (Laws N6), grouped with The Rich Merchant's Daughter / The Press Gang / The Lady and the Sailor and so on. Two examples from Gardener & Chickering are listed: their version A (text only, beginning "Some say I'll go crazy, some say I'll run mad") came from Chauncey Leach, Kalkaska, Michigan, 1934, and their version B (tune and text, "I am a young girl, and my fortune is sad") was from Charles Bunting, Alger, Michigan, 1935.

In this particular case, most of the narrative has disappeared and been replaced with floating verses. There are various broadside editions at  Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:

The lady and sailor

Mostly the man is a sailor already, but in one edition, a little earlier than the others, he is a weaver by trade pressed to sea at the merchant's behest:

The lady and weaver

The story then proceeds as usual.

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: The Weaver is Handsome
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 12:56 PM

Last weekend I was stuck on I-10 east of Lordsburg, New Mexico, with the traffic stopped for an hour due to blowing dust, then added a couple more hours to my trip with a detour via Safford to Tucson, Arizona (net result: 8 hours to home, instead of 4 1/2).

Fortunately, I'd brought lots of cds, and I decided to take the opportunity to learn a song. Carla Sciaky's rendition of "The Weaver is Handsome" was the selection. It's from the "Wagoner's Lad" family of songs, I'd say. The tune is slightly different from the well-known Lomax/Baez version, making it a challenge to replace the other one in my brain, but I think I've finally got it.

THE WEAVER IS HANDSOME

I am a young a girl and my fortune is sad,
I've a long time been courted by a roving young lad.
He's courted me highly, by night and by day,
and now for to leave me he's going away.

Some say I'll go crazy, some say I'll go mad
for the sake of the weaver, that beautiful lad,
for he's all of my life and he's all of my joy:
if I can't have the weaver, my life I'll destroy.

I'll cut off my hair and I'll dress in men's clothes
and I'll follow the weaver, wherever he goes.
For the weaver is handsome, the weaver is tall,
and I love the weaver the best of them all.

Her father came to her one day in great haste,
saying, "Follow the weaver, your friends to disgrace.
It's go and get married, say nothing to me,
and when you are married see how kind I'll be."

So there she went walking down by the seashore.
His words they come to her as they oft done before.
"For all that you say and all that you do,
dear parents, I'll have the weaver in spite of all you!"

X:1
T:The Weaver is Handsome
C:Trad.
N:Gardener & Chickering's "Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan"
Q:1/4=120
M:3/4
L:1/8
K:G
[| z4 G2 |G2 G2 A2 |G2 D2 DD |E2 G2 E2 |D4 z G |A2 G2 A2 |B d3 BA |G2 c2 B2 |A4 z A |A2 G2 A2 |B d3 G2 |G3 A B2 |D4 z G |G2 B3 A |B2 B2 A2 |G G3 E2 |D6 |]

(This is my own transcription of the tune. Which measures have three quarter notes versus some combination of quarter + dotted quarter + eighth is probably variable according to the singer and from verse to verse.)

Via Carla Sciaky Spin the Weaver's Song (Green Linnet GLCD 2106, 1992).

Originally published in Gardner, Elizabeth E. & Geraldine J. Chickering, eds., Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan, Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan, 1939 (reissued in 1967 by Folklore Associates, Hatsboro, Pennsylvania).

If someone's got a copy of Gardener and Chickering, I'd love to know what notes there are about the song and the singer they collected from.

~ Becky in Tucson